Anthony and Cleopatra Flashcards
Felperin (1977) - Structure of the Play
the play “creates an ambiguity of effect and a response unprecedented even within Shakespeare’s
work.”
Colie (1974) - Dual Setting of the Play
“the play is not so simple as a straight contest between their different values”.
Dowden (1953) - Passion vs Logic
suggests that the duality shown in the play - Antony and Cleopatra (reflects the playwrights inner struggle) – “Shakespeare lived and moved in two worlds – one limited, practical, the other, a world opening into two infinities …”
Gillies (1994) - The “Otherness” of Egypt - Rome vs Egypt
“the ‘orientalism’ of Cleopatra’s court — with its luxury, decadence, splendour, effeminacy, and eunuchs — seems a (systematic inversion) of the legendary Roman values of temperance, manliness, courage,”
Marsh (1960) - Passion vs Logic
“To care about something, to love something, outside oneself, is what gives life its meaning and purpose… “
“Caesar cares for little…”
Yachnin (1991) - Meaning of the play
“The (heterogeneous audience) and the tradition of (the drama’s engagement with political and social issues) help make sense of the topical meaning of a play like Antony and Cleopatra”
Pina Polo (2013) - View of Cleopatra
“The image of Cleopatra is one of a greater seducer who used seduction to achieve power”
Waddington (1966) - The play’s title
he argues that the play’s title ‘Anthony and Cleopatra’, “ is a romance which is designed to evoke primarily the mythical and cosmological affair of Mars and Venus”
Wilders (1995) - Love and Power
“Both he and cleopatra are exceptional too in their capacity for extreme and spontaneous feeling… For this reason, Octavius, though he becomes the supreme ruler of the Roman empire, seems a lesser person”
Kremenik (2020) - Betrayal
“Antony’s love for Cleopatra supersedes her betrayal of him”
